Mar. 30—SELLERSBURG — The Town of Sellersburg has been growing over the past decade in population, business and more.

In 2010 the population of Sellersburg was 8,349, U.S. Census Bureau reports show. This data includes the acquisition of the Covered Bridge area. The latest U.S. Census Bureau count shows the town's population at 9,310 in 2020.

Utility upgrades including a new wastewater plant and road construction are some of the efforts by the town to grapple with the growth.

The town also commissioned the Sellersburg 2040 Comprehensive Plan to help Sellersburg prepare for more growth.

This plan was created in 2020 with the goal of making a strategic vision of the community by planning and creating change and growth instead of reacting to it.

"I think it's going in a good direction," said Hunter O'Dell, owner of FaiDodos. "It's a small town, so it's really built off the community. But what it seems like is that more businesses right now are trying to open up here, compared to people having to leave Sellersburg."

FaiDodos, 7815 Ind. 311, has been open in the town for a little over a year, but O'Dell was born and raised in Sellersburg and said that he has seen the town change throughout his time living there.

The growing of Sellersburg has also given him a wider demographic of customers coming into his restaurant.

"I feel like I'm starting to see a bit of a younger crowd move to Sellersburg than I've seen before and I think that's cool," O'Dell said.

He added that increased traffic comes with the territory since people are moving here and are starting to work in the area.

With the increased traffic, O'Dell has no problem changing his schedule to compensate for the extra time on the road. He is aware of the people who may not be able to work around the increased traffic.

"People have voiced their problems, the board knows about it," O'Dell said. "It's not an overnight change. It's going to take a few years for the roads to adapt to fit people moving here. But until then you just got to plan your day a little bit differently."

Tasha Baskett is the co-owner of UpScale Hobbies at 123 South Indiana Ave. She owns the store with her husband, Chris Baskett.

She feels that change is inevitable and that growth can be a good thing, but there can be growing pains that come with it.

"There can be both sides of wanting to stay small and wanting to grow at the same time," Tasha Baskett said. "We feel that it's a good thing that growth is coming, there's a lot of business that is expanding the economy."

Expanding the economy will help bring jobs and more homes, she added.

The growing pains from Tasha Baskett's understanding of the expansion are the infrastructure for the roads and the schools.

"They don't have the infrastructure for the roads and the schools are already full from what I understand," Tasha Baskett said. "You can't just build the roads, you have to have the funds."

Along with municipal and state improvements in the area, upgrades are underway at the Silver Creek Schools campus in Sellersburg.

Tasha Baskett wants to help foster the growth of the town, but the Basketts would like to see the expansion of roads and an increase of housing.

"A lot of people might not like the apartment buildings that they're putting in, but that puts a lot of housing in a smaller area and it brings life into the city," she said.

She added that it really depends on whether Sellersburg wants to stay a town or grow into a city.

The master plan will address these infrastructure issues, including the $4.5 million roadway in the town center district that is set to open this fall. Another big hurdle the town has passed is the new wastewater treatment plant.

Utility rate increases have been on the rise because of the fees not being addressed for a long time before the master plan was created.

"By ordinance, the council is required to do a rate study every five years," said Charlie Smith, Sellersburg town manager. "I believe we're going to look at doing a rate study per ordinance next year."

Rate increases went into effect in 2021 and 2022; there is no plan for rate increases for 2023 or 2024.

Money from the rate increases funds the improvements made to the wastewater plant, pays employees and assists with other infrastructure needs.

"We're still the lowest-rate user community in this area, in this region," said Brad Amos, Sellersburg town council member. "We still have the cheapest rates as far as water, sewer, trash and fire protection than any of our surrounding communities."

The town compares its rates to areas such as Jeffersonville, Charlestown, New Albany, Clarksville and Harrison County.

Over the past two years, the town has been working on improving sidewalks. The town is looking for ways to establish sidewalks on streets that do not have one and what needs to be done on the ones it currently has.

Looking forward, Sellersburg officials will be working with the Indiana Department of Transportation, county commissioners and with federally elected officials to discuss traffic solutions on County Road 403.

Some potential ideas include adding another exit on Interstate 65 north of Exit 9 and include a bypass off of County Road 403.

"It's not just having conversations about today, we also have to think about what's coming in 20 years," Smith said. "We have got to come up with solutions today, because these problems are going to continue to compound."

Another topic the town will be improving is the flooding issues on US 31. The choke points of the flooding issues have been identified and they are working on ways to address them.

Flooding gets bad in the town because there are thousands of acres in two different watersheds that combine, Smith said.

US 31 and some railroad tracks nearby act as a dam and the water has to get from one side of the two to drain out into a cave system.

The water is unable to get to the other side of US 31 and backs up and flows over the road.

"I've had conversations with the railroad about enlarging the pipe that runs out of the railroad that allows all of our stormwater to drain," Smith said. "We're looking for options on getting the water under 31, which is what causes a lot of the problem."